Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda will be presenting his first Railway Budget today in the Parliament. With high expectations ongoing about the Railway Budget, Railway minister and his team will have to present a practical budget which will meet the demands of the people.

Gowda is expected to propose steps to boost revenues in the Rail Budget as the Indian Railways is saddled with a huge cash cruch of Rs 26,000 crore amidst a decline in the growth in passenger earnings. Experts say the Rail budget would bring in fiscal stability by sticking to the recent hike in fares and fund inflows for modernisation of infrastructure development through public private partnership (PPP) models.

The new government has already increased railway passenger fares by 14.2 per cent and the freight carriage charges by 6.5 per cent. However, it will need more funds from international lenders to place in bucks to finance long gestation projects. Expectations are high that Gowda will offer bold plans in Rail Budget to improve the service that transports 23 million Indians every day.

Hinting at meeting the expectations with his Rail Budget, Gowda tweeted saying that they are hoping that the budget will meet the public expectations.

Going to present my maiden budget as a @RailMinIndia minister today. Hope we are able to meet public expectations.